In general, a refrigerator is a home appliance that stores food at low temperatures to keep the food fresh for a prolonged period.
Specifically, a refrigerator provides a refrigeration compartment that maintains an inside temperature within a range of 1-4° C. to preserve foods such as vegetables in a fresh state, and a freezer compartment that maintains an inside temperature of around −18° C. to preserve foods such as meat and fish in a frozen state.
Refrigerators may be divided by type into refrigerators with the freezer compartment above the refrigeration compartment, refrigerators with the freezer compartment below the refrigeration compartment, and refrigerators with the freezer and refrigeration compartments provided beside one another.
Refrigerators can also be divided into french door refrigerators with doors mounted on the left and right, and top-bottom door refrigerators.
Some refrigerators have an ice maker for making ice provided on a side of the refrigeration or freezer compartment, and an ice bank for storing ice that is made.
In detail, when an ice maker and an ice bank are provided on the freezer compartment, water stored in the ice maker is converted to ice by refrigerant that passes through an evaporator, and the ice that is formed descends into and is stored in the ice bank provided below the ice maker.
In some refrigerators having ice makers provided in the refrigeration compartment, the ice bank is provided on a refrigeration compartment door. In this case, because the inside of the refrigeration compartment is maintained at temperatures above freezing, ice stored in the ice bank is prone to melt and stick together.
That is, when ice melts and sticks together, an ice crusher provided within the ice bank is subjected to an excessive load. More specifically, if the ice crusher is overloaded, components such as the motor driving the crusher and the crusher blades may be damaged. As a result, the service life of the ice bank is shortened, presenting added repair and replacement costs.